Dr Ramadoss, will you marry me?

Union Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss has been swamped with marriage offers but for other reasons, reports Neha Bhayana.

Union Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss has been swamped with marriage offers. Young girls from Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata dressed in their finest silks chased the 39-year-old on Tuesday with pleas of “Will you marry me?”

No, he is not scouting for partners. Female medical students consider him the “most eligible medical graduate” for entirely different reasons.

“Since Dr Ramadoss is taking all decisions about our life like how many years we should study, or how much we should get paid, without consulting us, he should take our responsibility as well,” said Kuheli Bhattacharya, a medical intern at KEM Hospital.

Bhattacharya is referring to the Union health ministry's proposal to increase the duration of the MMBS course from 5.5 years to 6.5 years to include rural service. The Centre is also mulling a proposal to increase postgraduate medical study by two years and PHD studies by 3 years.

Students at AIIMS, Delhi, also voiced similar views.

Meanwhile, more than 10,000 medical students in Tamil Nadu ended their month-long strike on Tuesday over the Centre’s proposal to make them work a year in the countryside before receiving their degrees.